Spain General Election 2023: Live Results (www.nytimes.com)

By

Martín González Gómez and
Lauren Leatherby

July 23, 2023

This election will allocate all 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, Spain’s primary legislative body. If no single party receives an outright majority in Congress ⎯ a likely scenario ⎯ the parties will negotiate until they form a governing coalition.

Originally scheduled for the end of the year, the vote is the first time Spain has held a general election so late in the summer, causing concern about turnout. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of PSOE, the mainstream social-democratic party, called a snap election after a poor result among left-leaning parties during regional and local elections in May.

PSOE is challenged on the right by PP, a mainstream conservative and Christian democratic political party led by Senate member Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

If PP or PSOE fails to win a majority, center-right PP may look to form a coalition with the far-right Vox, led by Santiago Abascal, a member of the Congress of Deputies. Similarly, the center-left PSOE may look to form a coalition with Sumar, a coalition of 20 progressive and regional political parties led by Yolanda Díaz, the second deputy prime minister and labor minister. Sumar includes Unidas Podemos, a leftist party that won 35 seats in 2019, which is struggling after its meteoric rise just eight years ago.

If either of those coalitions fail to reach a majority in parliament, they will have to garner the support of smaller regional parties.

In addition to the Congress of Deputies, 208 seats will also be allocated in the Senate, a territorial chamber, but that body does not take part in electing the prime minister.